Laser Effect on a moving object

[clonewar12345]

I am trying to get a laser firing effect on a moving TIE. I know how to do it on a stationary object via a path. However I cannot get it to work when the ship moves. I tried making two extra splines coming out of the guns and constraining the blaster bolt to them but i couldn't find any way to constrain it to the splines. Is there anyway to constrain a strait path to a moving object to constrain the bolts too?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[Bruce Del Porte]

Sometimes it is easier to just hand animate. an object moving across screen in a straight line or even an arc can be done with just a few keys.

[clonewar12345]

Im trying to get a rapid fire effect....

 

http://www.hash.com/amfilms/search/entry.php?entry=682

 

 

this type of thing... I can do it with a path but i dont know how to constrain the path to the space ship

[Ganthofer]

A few questions first.

 

How are you creating your laser fire? is it an object (model with material and or surface settings, sprites, streaks..)?

 

The complication with constrain something from the ship to where ever the laser disappears, is that the starting point will move with the ship. Making the laser fire look as though it is turning in space when the ship isn't flying straight.

 

It would, in imho, be better to plan when the laser fire is to happen, and at that point in the Chor, with the ship in position (since you know how to make laser fire work with a path) create a new path from the muzzle of the laser on the ship to the length the laser light will be seen.

 

You could also try the Tinkering Gnome's experimental material laser effect Gradient combiner - Laser with pose slider But this method has the same problem I mentioned earlier, so camera angle and directional move ments of the ship when firing will result in laser light that doesn't move in a straight line.

 

Glenn

[clonewar12345]

It is created with an object with a material....but thanks that is a good idea

[brainmuffin]

Why not try this:

 

Attach the path(s) to the blasters of the firing ship. Then:

 

If the ship that is firing has stationary blasters, constrain the root bone of the firing ship to "aim at" the target ship.

 

If the firing ship has turrets that rotate, then set the turret bones to "Aim at" the target.

[clonewar12345]

how do i attach the path to the blasters? A:M wont let me constrain the path to the blasters as far as i know.

[johnl3d]

you can make a splice that will be the path as part of the model then shift select it when constraining to the spline as the path

 

 

Could look something like this

 

 

bp.mov

 

 

v15 project

 

bp.zip

 

worked about 15 minutes so its not great but should point you the right way

[clonewar12345]

Thanks....thats exactly what i needed..

 

i tried the method suggested by Ganthofer and it worked fine but it took a long time to set up.

 

I tried this method originally but i didnt know about the shift-click deal